Iran sits atop promising uranium deposits: AEOI chief

Politics - The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says Iran sits atop significant uranium reserves following recent exploration of mines in the country.

In an interview with ICANA on Saturday, Ali-Akbar Salehi said that Iran had recently made great achievements in exploring natural uranium mines.

“I cannot speak about the level of the country’s uranium mine reserves. It is noteworthy, however, that before aerial exploration [for uranium mines] we were not very hopeful. But fortunately following the [recent] explorations, the volume of deposits is promising,” Salehi said.

He added that uranium exploration testing has so far been conducted on more than 63 percent of Iran, expressing hope that it would be completed within four years.

The Iranian nuclear chief also said the country has already started extracting uranium from Saghand mine in the central province of Yazd, adding that uranium extraction was also set to begin at a mine in the city of Ardakan in the same province in the near future.